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Charlie Chaplin’s granddaughter has compared Angela Merkel ‘s decision to allow the prosecution of a German comedian for insulting the Turkish president to the appeasement of Hitler in the 1930s.

Laura Chaplin likened the case to American and British attempts to prevent her grandfather filming The Great Dictator, his satire of the Nazi regime, over fears it would offend the Fuhrer.

Jan Böhmermann Credit:
HENNING KAISER/AFP

Her intervention came as a new poll found almost two-third of Germans oppose Mrs Merkel over the prosecution.

Jan Böhmermann faces up to five years in prison for insulting a foreign head of state, after Mrs Merkel gave permission for him to be prosecuted under Germany’s controversial lese-majeste law.

The comedian had read a poem mocking Mr Erdogan on his TV show as a test of free expression after the Turkish leader demanded German action over a satirical song which poked fun at his policies and extravagant lifestyle.